Mother Goo
The Mother Goo is the mobile primary production center of the Goo. The largest of the proteans (aside from the Purger), the Mother's primary function is to harvest resources and replicate. The Mother Goo will break off portions of itself to form small proteans, large proteans, and even additional Mothers. Gameplay The Mother Goo is a resource collector, production facility, and military unit, all in one. Goo players start with a single Mother, and although they do not count towards the population limit, each player is limited to 12 Mothers at any one time. If a Goo player loses all Mothers, they are out of the game. Resource collection Goo players do not have a collection of catalyst to spend, unlike the other factions. Instead, the health of all of the player's Mother Goos is their primary resource. Each Mother starts with 240 health (except the starting Mother, which starts with just 120), and gains health slowly by harvesting catalyst, up to a maximum of 1200 health. The Mother Goo's physical size is based on its health. In the UI, the Mother’s health is represented as a white bar split across five segments, each representing 240 health (the first bar is also 240 health, despite taking up half of the space). These segments are referred to as sizes when discussing costs (for example, something that costs "2 sizes" will remove 480 health). The main way to grow the Mother is to harvest catalyst. When a Mother moves over a catalyst spigot, it adds 120 health (half a size) of potential health. Potential health is represented as a yellow bar in the UI, which slowly transforms into white health at a rate of 6 per second, in increments of 0.5s (it takes 20 seconds to fully convert the half-size of potential health into useable health). This growth system allows Mothers to move around the map while continuously growing, without having to stop and sit on a spigot. As long as a Mother touches a spigot at least once every 20 seconds, it will grow at the optimal rate. Mothers cannot harvest catalyst from the low-yield fields (which other factions can mine for 8/s). Mothers can harvest from pools with catalyst vent plugs without having to first destroy the plug, but do not gain health any faster from high-yield spigots (which other factions can mine for 13/s). Once a Mother harvests from a spigot, no other Mother can use it for 20 seconds. Therefore, it is not advantageous for two or more mothers to share a single spigot. On the other hand, one Mother can touch many spigots in under 20 seconds, gaining the full amount of potential health from each of them. This does not actually increase the harvesting rate, since the Mother still only gains useable health at a rate of 6/s, but it does allow the Mother to go longer without touching a spigot, whilst maintaining an optimal growth rate. By comparing the Mother Goo growth rate of 6 health per second to the other factions' normal extraction rate of 10 units per second, we see that 6 Mother Goo health is approximately equal to 10 catalyst units (which is useful for economic modelling). Mother Goos also gain a significant amount of potential health by consuming enemy units and structures. Production Once a Mother is past a certain size, the player can spend a portion of its health to create a small protean, large protean, Mother Goo, Purger, or research technology. Costs are measured in sizes, where one size is 240 health, or one segment of a Mother Goo's health bar. You cannot spend any of the first segment of health (there must be at least one full segment remaining on the Mother Goo after the cost is deducted). Costs are as follows: * Small protean - 1 size * Large protean - 3 sizes * Mother Goo - 2 sizes * Purger - 4 sizes; consumes the Mother * Research upgrade - 1 size Cost is deducted instantly, and the new protean is created instantly (except for the Purger, which starts as a Proto-Purger, and research, which takes time). See also *Headquarters - Beta equivalent *Core - Human equivalent *Entity - Shroud equivalent Links * Mother Goo technical details - Forum post by Xiongataosenai (with old numbers) Category:Goo proteans